Isabel Santos, the chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, expressed her concern about increasing violations of rights and freedoms in Russia, the OSCE PA said in a statement on July 25.
“While the world focuses on the crisis in Ukraine and Russia’s troubling role in those events, no one should overlook what has been a disturbing week of abuses in Russia itself,” Santos said.
In particular, she mentioned the recent inclusion of several NGOs on the ‘foreign agents list’, including the Memorial human rights center.
Santos also pointed out that “the sentencing of leading opposition figures in connection with the infamous Bolotnaya case sends the message that in the political sphere as well, there is ever-shrinking room and ever-increasing risk for dissent.”
